Saturday, October 9, 2010

A Little Saturday Linkage

This morning we've we're going to briefly discuss a trio of high priced property purchases that transfixed, perplexed and befuddled real estate gossips and watchers from coast to coast. Each of the three lavish properties sold for a shocking amount of money–although in each case far less than was originally wanted by the sellers–and each property was purchased through an entity the shrouds the identity of the buyer.

1.There seems to be some confusion about who actually bought and owns the the insanely opulent 48,000 square foot La Belvedere mansion in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles that hotel and real estate developer Mohamed Haddid sold in June of 2010 for a heart stopping $50,000,000.

Transfer records originally showed the name of Turkish biznessmanSarpTuranligil as the big buyer. However, through a spokesperson, Mister Turanligil denies currently or ever personally owning the estate. He does admit that that although he no longer has any affiliation with the property, he was involved in some bizess with the company who did buy the home.

About 6 weeks after the property sold, the title quit claim deeded to an limited-liability corporation of unknown ownership. So who bought this place then? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? Bueller?

2.All the owners of excessively expensive properties in Malibu, CA probably got goose pimples and passed out with shrieks of joy and real estate relief when they read in the Wall Street Journalthat the estate of Nancy Daly sold her ocean front house on Carbon Beach to a Delaware-based limited-liability company for more than $40,000,000. (The actual figure has yet to be sussed out.) According the peeps at the Wall Street Journal the mysterious new owner, whose neighbors include HaimSaban, David Geffen, Paul Allen and JeffreryKatzenberg, intends to lease out the 13,000 square foot beast that includes 8 bedrooms, a dozen poopers, 9 fireplaces, an ocean side swimming pool and a sport court.

The house, originally listed on the open market in March of 2010 at $57,000,000, was built in the early 2000s after MizDaly snatched up 3 contiguous lots that stretch an unheard of 180 feet along some of the most expensive sand in the United States.

3.Back in early 2008 the Greenwich, CT estate of Leona "The Queen of Mean" Helmsley was hoisted on to the open market with a bone chilling asking price of $125,000,000. The approximately 23,000 square foot neo-Jacobean pile, built in 1918 and known as Dunnellen Hall, sits on 40 acres and includes a 47-foot long reception hall, and 86-foot long gallery, an 1,125 square foot living room, and oak paneled library with a 15th-century fireplace mantel, a silver vault, 7 bedroom suites, and a marble floored ballroom.

By early 2010 the asking price had plummeted dramatically to $55,000,000 and according to recent reports, the property was sold last week for $35,000,000, a huge number by any standard but a substantial and humbling mark down from the laughably high original price tag.

The deeds have yet to be filed, so the new owner has yet to be identified, according the the Wall Street Journal, sources familiar with the deal say that estate was purchased by a trust which means it probably ain't gonna be easy for figure out who bought the damn place.

Iffin Your Mama were the betting type, which we're not, we'd guess that the buyer is either one of the many filthy rich hedge hogs who call leafy and sleepy but intensely uppity Greenwich community home. Or maybe a Russian oligarch looking to park a few tens of millions of clams or a perhaps a Middle Easter potentate drunk with the high price of crude. Who knows? No, really, who knows?

Just like with Le Belvedere in Bel Air and Nancy Daly's oceanfront manse in Malibu, all us property freaks will just have to wait on pins and needles until some snitch let's the real estate cat out of the bag and reveals the names the new owners.

12 comments:

La Belvedere? A foul, ugly pile, ass-backwards on the cramped lot, and a paean to faux. Whoever bought it is welcome to it, although my personal sense of shame would induce me to stretch a camouflage net over the entire property.

Carbon Beach is supposedly the ne-plus-ultra of Malibu, but regardless of location & view, it's still a sliver of land wedged between the highway & the ocean. Desirable as some might find it, you could build on a foundation of solid gold bars & I still wouldn't (nor couldn't) pay that amount of money for a second home that has no peace or privacy. I wouldn't turn down a guest invitation, however. My stay however, would be brief; as Nana always said, "Guests, like fish, tend to stink after a few days..."

;-)

Perhaps Leona's dog, Trouble, has bought her mistress's ghost Dunnelllen Hall; odds are the tenacious "Queen of Mean" still hasn't vacated the property, and with Pope Ratty in the catbird seat, decent exorcisms are rather hard to come by these days.

For some misguided arsonist, a mini spree could net over $125MM in insurance claims for the owners; and rid the world of some very mediocre real estate.

Now don't all you firebugs go rushing off to CA & CT, saying lil' gay boy told you to...

Well, none of this news bodes well for Suzanne and Candy. $50 million looks like the market price now for monster homes. Even a block over on Carolwood and Delfern, $25mm is the new $50mm. Spell and Saper need to get real.

BTW, Mama, you're the TOPS. This blog is like cotton candy that doesn't rot your teeth.

I was thinking this blog is more like the Brown Bread Ice Cream Pecan Caramel Sundae at Bettys in Yorkshire, UK........simply the best. Cotton candy just disappears.........Mama's posts have staying power.

Yes indeed, I thought she would leave the house to Trouble. But didn't the estate judge decide that she had left too much to the dog and the amount had to be reduced? That might explain the sale. (LOL).

I got the dog stuff all wrong. Here is the straight poop on the pooch from Wikipeida:

Nine-year-old Trouble lives in Florida with Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, with several death threats having been received. Lekic, Trouble's caretaker, stated that $2 million would pay for the dog's maintenance for more than 10 years - the annual $100,000 for full-time security, $8,000 for grooming and $1,200 for food. Lekic is paid a $60,000 annual guardian fee."

In addition to $12 million Leona Helmsley left to her pet, she left instructions that her trust, now valued at $5 to $8 billion, be used to benefit dogs. The trust is not legally bound to these wishes.

Bet the Greenwich, CT house was bought by a developer. Acreage in Greenwich is like gold and in this part of the country there is NO WAY a 40 acre spread is staying intact. Call me old fashioned but I hope the house doesn't get torn-down, old relic that it is. The blind trust makes one think the buyer is a VIP who wants to maintain anonymity. I guess some no-name hedge funder, 0prah, Donald Trump or Ralph Lauren (in that order)...with Beyonce and JayZ a distant possibility, they've be house-hunting in Greenwich and surrounding areas for a long time. Just guesses ;)